


Without you I lie desolate (in your thoughts shall I reside)

by louloubaby92



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alpha Harry, Alpha/Omega, Alternate Universe, Angst and Fluff and Smut, Fugitives, Harry Styles Loves Louis Tomlinson, Human Louis Tomlinson, Louis Tomlinson Loves Harry Styles, M/M, Non-Graphic Violence, Omega Louis Tomlinson, Running Away, Scent Marking, Scenting, Werewolf Harry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-07
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-13 16:22:58
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,182
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29903832
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/louloubaby92/pseuds/louloubaby92
Summary: In a divided world of love and hate, compassion and cruelty, resides a semblance of humanity. It hangs by an intricately-woven thread, frayed and battered but unbroken against the tides of injustice.Or the one where Harry loves a human and tries so hard not to feel guilty about it.
Relationships: Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson
Comments: 4
Kudos: 33
Collections: Week Sixty-Two





	Without you I lie desolate (in your thoughts shall I reside)

**Author's Note:**

> 435\. The worry that you yielded too soon.
> 
> I saw a series of quotes on Tumblr and was just...inspired. Plus I wrote a Derek/Harry fic that was inspired by teen wolf fics and I thought, why not write a very loosely-based fic on the series with Louis as Stiles and Harry as Derek, yeah? and voila :D
> 
> This fic was written as part of an ongoing challenge using the book 1000 Feelings For Which There Are No Names for our prompts. To read the other fics written in this challenge, [click here](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/ShortFic_Challenge_For_Which_There_Is_No_Name/works). You can find more information on the challenge here and to reblog the masterpost on tumblr, you can [click here](http://lululawrence.tumblr.com/post/159679804243/1000-feelings-for-which-there-are-no-names-prompt).

_He’s more myself than I am_

_Whatever our souls are made of,_

_His and mine are the same_

_-Emily Bronte, Wuthering Heights_

_Louis shouldn’t have to come for him._

That wasn’t the running thought going through Harry’s mind in the two days since he had been captured.

His first thought was that he would die before he would tell them where his omega was. His second thought was that he would not succumb to the pain of torture they rain down on him if it meant Louis would make it out of this hellish world they’re living in. His third thought, after they shot his body up with electricity until his mind went numb with pain, was that Louis would come for him and get him out, just like they’ve done for each other so many times before, ever since they’ve been on the run.

Now though….

Now he thinks he’s yielded too soon. He should’ve fought harder to get out and find Louis. Now, he fears Louis coming for him because if he does and he gets captured too, he knows they’ll make him watch. He knows they will hurt Louis in front of him and relish every moment of it.

He also shouldn’t have yielded to Louis. Back before politics and hunters mattered, back in their own small town where it didn’t matter too much if he lived the rest of his life in shadows, known but forgotten, heard of but ignored, leashed by the law but alive because of the law, life was so simple. Life wasn’t complicated by a pair of blue eyes that belonged to a person who was just too damn curious for his own good.

And damn too kind…

Why did Louis have to fall for a wolf? And why him?

He was stupid, Harry thinks, stupid enough to imagine a world where he can love Louis freely and no one would care. To him, it was enough that Louis cared. That was all that mattered, you know? Louis loved him despite not being human. He loved him despite the law.

_‘’Our love is above the law,’’ Louis had said jokingly once but boldly and bravely, like he didn’t care if anybody would hear._

That was back when they didn’t sleep in empty barns or run-down shacks; back when they didn’t have to sneak around for food, so far off the beaten road and sleeping with one eye open. It feels like a lifetime ago.

It’s been siphoned from his blood, the notion that he wasn’t good enough for Louis or human enough to deserve him. Louis had hammered all those insecurities to the ground and buried all that self-hate within him that now, being without him hurts more than the murmuring buzzing of current still going through him, never turned off, even when his torturers left him alone in his dark cell.

His shackles weighed him down behind his back and his body felt like tipping over the uncomfortable metal chair his ankles were chained to, but his thoughts were heavier. He had nothing but the darkness and his swirling thoughts as company. As the hours passed, he begs to whatever Supreme Being is out there that Louis does not come for him.

They might as well just shoot him in the head with a bullet full of wolfsbane. That would be more merciful than watching Louis be tortured in front of him and all he could do was watch.

He’ll fight like hell, he knows he will. He feels weak now, no food or water for two days and nothing but whips and current laid on him, but he’ll fight with every ounce of strength he’s got left because you see, he got Louis into this fugitive life. He got him into this mess. If he’d just kicked him out of his house when Louis got lost in the woods that first time they met, none of this would have happened. Louis would still be living the life of a normal high school kid and their brief encounter would be entirely forgotten.

It’s really all Harry’s fault; he never should have allowed him into his house to make a phone call and get his dad to pick him up. If he’d just bared his fangs at him and scared him away, Louis wouldn’t have ever set foot beyond his charred doorsteps and struck up a conversation with him.

And man, he was weak, starved for contact. Louis opened his mouth and in a second, he was disarmed by his dazzling blue eyes, charmed by his wit and smile and laugh and taken in by the most animated human he’s ever spoken to in years since his family was murdered by hunters. Louis was blunt and careless about sparing his feelings, asking him things like why he lived in a burned out house in the middle of the woods like he didn’t know. The whole town knew who he was, who his family was, but nobody ever talked to him when he visited town to do his groceries or ever came close enough to strike up a conversation.

Louis defied all the odds.

He came back the next day and the next and the next and that was it, he was gone. He put up a good fight, he knows he did, Louis said he did but still, Louis may be human but he dug his metaphorical claws into him so deep and well…loving him never felt so good. Loving Louis, there was nothing like it, nothing like giving your heart to someone and to have that person just…. Louis proved to him time and time again that he was totally capable of protecting him, of holding down his own, of loving him like he was an equal.

Louis surprised him at every single turn, every battle they faced, every hurdle they came up against, he always took the road less travelled by but it was always the one that got them out in one piece.

Harry was run by anger; it was in his very nature to roar and scream at the world for the injustice of it all and sometimes he was blinded by it but Louis knew how to break through all that red and light him up in blue. Before Louis, he took the bullets aimed at him, thinking that he was invincible and that if he weren’t, it’s not like his life mattered anyways but together, he dodged them. Together he played it smart, cool and calm under tension. Together, they made it out alive every single time they got too close to the edge.

He doesn’t think he’ll make it this time though. There are hunters everywhere and when he was dragged in this hell-hole, it was deep under the ground, like a dungeon.

He doesn’t think…

His thoughts are interrupted by the squeaking of metal, the door to his cell being slid open. He’s too tired and sleep-deprived to raise his head though. His curls are all wet and matted over his forehead, not to mention the dried up sweat clinging to his dirty clothes.

The last time he washed was the day before he got captured and to be honest, he doesn’t want to part from his threadbare jumper and washed-out ripped jeans. They carry Louis’ scent, his omega’s lavender scent and though it’s underneath the rusty scent of blood and grime, Harry knows it’s still there, clinging to his clothes with every pore in his being.

The scent intensifies with the sound of light footsteps and he squeezes his eyes shut, waiting for the inevitable hurt. He clings to the scent, to thoughts of Louis, because he knows it will be hard to think when they electrocute him again. He wants to stay hidden inside his mind just a little bit longer, where only thoughts of Louis exist, where his…

‘’Alpha,’’

His eyes snap open and there, on his knees between the V of his legs…

He must be dreaming, current frying his brain. Even in the dark, he’ll know those eyes a mile away and they’re right there, right in front of him.

‘’How…’’

‘’Shh…can you walk?’’ Louis whispers, hands on his knees. He looks so small in his oversized lumpy clothes. Has he not been eating? Has he not been taking care of himself? Has he not…

‘’Shh, I’m here, it’s really me.’’

He closes his eyes at the onslaught of warmth that suddenly wraps around him. He inhales the scent of lavender that engulfs him in Louis’ embrace. His chair creaks and he realizes he was about to hold him; keep Louis in his lap but his damn shackles stop him. His muscles strain regardless, desperate to hold back, to comfort, to…

‘’Shh, shh, be quiet, please…’’ Louis begs, raising his head and cradling his face, forehead to forehead. He didn’t know he started whining. ‘’We need to get out of here. We don’t have much time. Okay?’’

Harry nods, finally understanding the situation. Louis’ voice is firm but Harry knows he’s scared and it’s not right. His omega can’t be scared because that’s only okay when they’re apart. Harry knows he’s been scared this whole time, he’s not ashamed of admitting it but they vowed to each other. They vowed that they’d never be scared when they’re together, no matter what.

‘’Okay,’’ Harry whispers, lips grazing Louis’ dry lips in a poor semblance of a kiss. Louis nods.

He hops off Harry’s lap and with quick footsteps, gets behind the chair and is able to unshackle him.

‘’Stole the keys from the guard I knocked out,’’ Louis explains to his unasked question. He’s quick as he disconnects Harry from the wires and though he feels like his strings have finally been cut off, his nerves are too tired and his muscles are aching. But he knows he cannot rest until they get out. He doesn’t know how Louis got in or how he found him, but they can’t get trapped in here. That would be a death sentence.

Louis unchains his legs and soon, captures his hand and heads for the open bars of his cell. It’s dead quiet outside, pitch-black dark but Louis’ footsteps are steady and quick as he leads him left and right, like he’s got a map to the maze they’re in.

It seems like they’re heading deeper underground but Harry just grips Louis’ hand harder, afraid to let go, afraid to lose him.

It feels like forever and Harry knows his eyes are glowing, trying to see atop Louis’ head when Louis suddenly stops.

‘’This is small enough for me to pass,’’ Louis says, his voice echoing. It’s only then that Harry realizes that he’s stepped on water and it smells grotesque.

Sewage pipes.

Harry looks at Louis and sees him pushing his lean body through a gap in a metal enclosure, outside which is a ditch with running sewage. 

‘’Can you expand it?’’ Louis asks, metal between them. The moon is hidden in clouds tonight, a perfect time to escape.

Harry doesn’t waste the opportunity they have. He holds the metal bars between his palms and starts to push outwards. He’s weak, he knows he is but looking at Louis and seeing him, is enough to make him feel like his old self.

Louis helps too, with his human arms and human muscles. They push together, until the gap is big enough for his bulky mass to pass through.

The moment he does, his arms wrap around Louis’ waist in an iron-clad grip, lifting his feet off the ground.

‘’Offf,’’ Louis huffs but hugs him back all the same.

Harry takes in one inhale, two to tide him over, before he lets go.

‘’Can you run?’’ Louis asks.

Harry shakes his head in fondness. Since when does Louis not know that he’ll destroy the world for him if he asks?

‘’Let’s go,’’

Without another word, he gets Louis unto his back and sprints them the fuck out of there.

…………………………………………………………………………….

They run all night, until the Sun’s about to rise and he feels dead on his feet.

But he doesn’t stop. No matter how much Louis urges, he doesn’t stop, too afraid to have someone following them like last time.

The chance of them getting caught is always on the back of their minds. He knows it won’t be the end, not until they reach the wolf shelter.

When he got caught, they were hiding in the trees. Harry had climbed up with Louis clinging to his back and he laid back on the trunk of a tree, so high up to be seen within the thick of the branches.

They were tired and hungry and so close to the moon, it was easy to forget the world for a little while.

Louis fell asleep in his arms, back to chest and they thought no more of it, of who they had to leave behind.

Before he knew it, there were arrows shooting everywhere and gun shots ringing in his ears. He forgot they were high up instead of on the ground and before he knew it, they were falling almost twenty feet from the ground. Harry got Louis locked in his arms and his fast-healing body cushioned their fall.

They were going to get caught, he knew they were and so he did the one thing he promised himself he would always do.

He chose Louis.

Still in his arms, he’d run until he reached the edge of the waterfall, hunters at his back. He’d kissed Louis’ forehead in haste, no time to spare a few words. The last thing he saw of him was his body falling down as he threw him into the rapid waters. And then he’d run the other way, as far as he could go, before he got shot with wolfsbane and passed out.

When he’d woken up, all he saw was concrete.

‘’Stop already, please.’’ Louis whispers. His voice is groggy and rusty, but his arms remain tight around his neck. Outside the hunter’s den, it’s colder than ever, freezing winds biting at them and he’s too weak to warm Louis up the way that his furnace of a body used to so he know Louis’ lips are probably blue and pale. ‘’I know you’re tired.’’

Harry doesn’t want to stop, cannot stop thinking of what could happen if he stops like last time.

‘’Please,’’ Louis murmurs into his ear. ‘’You can at least put me down if you wanna continue a bit more.’’

‘’No,’’

‘’Baby,’’ Louis chuckles. ‘’I’m hungry and cold. We have none of our belongings. Are you not gonna do something about it?’’

And of course he plays that card. Louis’ clever, always has been and knows how to disarm him, knows that Harry wouldn’t be able to resist taking care of him.

Looking around him, they’re in an open field, a dirt road splitting green lands left and right, vast and wide, as far as the eye can see. It’s a perfect place to unleash his wolf but he can’t risk it.

‘’Is that a hurricane shelter?’’ Louis points, fussing around until Harry puts him down. ‘’Do you see it?’’

Harry does see it; there’s always a hurricane shelter around these open places, and the road they’re in deviates towards one, cutting through the tall grass.

‘’Let’s check it out,’’ Louis suggests. ‘’And if it’s safe, we can stay there for a while and cover our tracks, make sure to hide the way leading to it.’’

Sounds like a solid plan, Harry thinks. For now.

…………………………………………………………………………….

It’s run-down and not well-stocked up but it will do, Harry thinks.

It’s only two rooms, one just slightly bigger than the other. The bigger one has a bed, a cupboard and some sort of hearth. The bed’s wooden frame is broken down and Harry dismantles it until the mattress is laid on the floor. He uses the wood remains and throws them into the dry fireplace and leaves Louis to do his boy-scout thing and try to light it up while he goes outside and covers the small road leading to the shelter with grass and foliage. He kills some dead squirrels and sprays their blood all over the place to throw off their scents before he returns to Louis.

The steps are rickety but the trap door locks just fine. Down the steps, the place glows with the fire Louis managed to spark in the old hearth.

‘’Found some clothes and cans of red beans,’’ Louis says, sitting up against the wall, with an open can in his hands. ‘’The bathroom has runny water but just a sink and a toilet. It will do though. Change up and get rid of those, yeah?’’

Harry does what he says, throwing his dirty clothes into the fire and taking the dusty clothes from the shelf that Louis points out to. He washes up as best as he can by the sink. There’s no soap or shampoo and the water is freezing but it does the job. The clothes are massive on him and that works just fine for him. It’s been a while since he’s worn a hoodie and sweatpants and the socks are scratchy on his feet but beggars can’t be choosers.

When he’s done, he goes back to the room and notices that Louis’ fallen asleep. The open can of red beans is loose in his grasp and head is lilting, chin on his chest.

He’s changed clothes too, wearing a ratty blue hoodie and black leggings, probably clothes of a girl. His feet are bare and that startles him to move again.

Harry joins him on the mattress.

His hunger can wait for a bit. In the glow of the fire, Louis looks thin and cold and that just won’t do.

He takes off his newly acquired socks and places them on Louis’ feet. He cannot help but massage the space between the sole of his feet and toes, knowing they probably ache a bit.

There’s a thin cotton blanket that’s folded on the edge of the mattress, probably one of Louis’ finds and he uses it to cover Louis up.

He then releases Louis’ hand from the can and eats what remains. He pretty much demolishes the other can that Louis probably left for him.

Hunger solved, he finally brings Louis to his chest, head tucked into his neck and lies down.

Eyes closing, arms wrapping around his omega, he makes sure Louis’ covered and tucked in well. He then takes in a deep inhale, and falls asleep.

………………………………………………………………………….

The sound of thunder startles him awake.

But the empty space between his arms makes him sit up and roar. It goes unheard, muted by the blasting storm outside their haven.

‘’Slow down big guy,’’ Louis chuckles. Turning red eyes towards him, he sees Louis throwing more lumps of wood into the fireplace. ‘’You nearing your rut or something?’’

It’s subtle, the way he asks, if his wolf is nearer to the surface than normal, if he’s been tortured in a way that muted his humanity.

‘’Or something.’’ Harry replies, and doesn’t elaborate. Louis will know anyways, he always does.

‘’Hmm,’’

Back resting against the wall behind him, he beckons Louis over. ‘’Come here.’’

Louis throws another lump of wood before he joins him on the flat, lumpy mattress.

Harry doesn’t waste a second; he gets on top of Louis and starts scenting him thoroughly, licking his neck and taking deep inhales, until Louis smells like him, is covered in him.

‘’Can’t wait till you mark me up again,’’ Louis says when Harry starts licking around his mating mark. If there’s one thing he loves, it’s biting over the mark again and again, so that it always looks prominent.

They’d stopped doing that though since they ran because if people see that mark, they’ll know that Louis’ mated to an alpha wolf instead of an alpha human and he’ll be executed for it, for interbreeding with a mindless beast, a mere animal.

Sometimes it’s hard to believe he isn’t one, not with the whole world convinced that he is, condemning him to something that Louis says he isn’t.

‘’You are a human first, always remember that,’’ Louis had told him before. And when it comes to Louis’, well…it’s hard not to take his word for it.

Louis had always believed in him, believed in his humanity.

Sometimes, it feels like only he does.

‘’Hey,’’ Louis says, pulling him up by the hair so that he can see him. He can’t hide anything from Louis when he looks into his eyes. Apparently, he’s wide open to Louis, transparent like a sheet of glass and while he wants to burrow into him and continue scenting him, he knows that Louis wants to talk.

‘’What happened in there?’’ Louis asks.

‘’You know what happened,’’ Harry shrugs, elbows underneath him while Louis wraps his arms around his neck. ‘’What they do,’’

‘’We can forget for a little while,’’ Louis suggest. ‘’I know you want to move but…’’

‘’We can’t stay here,’’ Harry urges, boxing Louis’ head with his arms and getting up close. ‘’Tonight we leave,’’

‘’I know, I know,’’ Louis soothes. ‘’But for now, we can forget, okay?’’

If it was up to Harry, they’d leave now. He feels rejuvenated somewhat and the storm outside will hide their scents perfectly.

‘’Lou…’’

But it’s hard to focus when Louis’ clutching at his neck with his rough fingers and kissing him, thighs opening up and bracketing him in, until he’s flushed against his body and…

‘’Lou…’’

‘’I miss you, please,’’ Louis whispers into his lips which of course makes him automatically begin reciprocating. Louis’ arms move down his back until his hands reach his arse and clutches hard. ‘’Say you want me.’’

Harry growls into Louis’ moist mouth and his claws almost come out when the smell of slick hits the air.

Fuck.

‘’I want you, I always fucking want you,’’

He sits up and brings Louis with him. He keeps kissing him until his claws recede before he begins to take their clothes off, careful not to rip them. It’s all they’ve got.

‘’I’m so mad at you,’’ Louis gasps when Harry pushes him down the bed to take off his leggings and pants in one go. His slick flow is already gushing and wetting the mattress. ‘’Can’t believe you threw me down the waterfall like that.’’

‘’There was no other choice,’’ Harry growls through his fangs, standing up to take off his lower garments and eyes zeroing in on Louis spreading his legs.

‘’You should’ve jumped with me,’’ Louis grits, hands going to his cock but eyes angry and hurt. ‘’You fucking left me,’’

‘’I had no other choice,’’ Harry gets back down on top of him and rips his hands away from his dick, holding his wrists down beside his head. ‘’It was either you or me and it will never be you they take, you hear me?’’

‘’That wasn’t your choice to make,’’ Louis says, legs wrapping around his waist, feet tangled at the small of his back. ‘’If they had killed you, then you would’ve left me alone. Did you not think of that?’’

‘’They wouldn’t come after you then,’’ Harry says before he holds Louis’ wrists together in one hand and starts fingering Louis’ slick hole. ‘’You’d be free of me,’’

‘’And you think that’s what I want?’’ Louis exclaims before he gasps at a deep jab from Harry’s finger. ‘’Fuck, you can be so dim sometimes.’’

‘’It doesn’t matter what you want, you deserve to be safe,’’ Harry emphasises with another deep jap, making Louis gasp again. ‘’Even if it means being safe from me, being safe without me.’’

‘’I’ll never be safe in this world,’’ Louis’ eyes shutter close as Harry fingers him thoroughly. ‘’Not without you. You’re in my bones, Haz. I’m in yours. You love me. You promised me; can never be scared with you, only scared without you. We promised each other, remember?’’

Louis’ eyes open and they’re wide. Harry understands; it’s rare that he ever tears up but Louis’ face blurs and waters before him.

‘’You still don’t regret any of this?’’ Harry manages to ask past the lump in his throat.

‘’Three months on the run with you, six months in love with you and you think I’ll ever regret you?’’ Louis exhales before he lifts his head up slightly and looks Harry straight in the eye. ‘’I’ll burn the world for you and no one can stop me.’’

Harry follows his sinful lips when Louis’s head tilts back. He tongues his mouth open and kisses him deeply, wants to dive down his throat and have him repeat those words. His grip on his wrists tighten but Louis just goads him, feet urging him forward. He remembers his fingers and adds another until they’re three, until Louis’ gasping loudly beneath him, desperate and hard.

The storm outside rages on and so does the heat between them.

‘’Get in me,’’ Louis urges when Harry lets him breathe. He looks down as he holds his hard dick and presses in. Once the head of his cock is at Louis’ rim, he holds both of Louis’ wrists above his head and starts pushing forward.

‘’Fuck,’’ Louis’ tight and that’s understandable; its’ been a while but he’s like a furnace inside. ‘’I miss you, baby.’’

‘’Move,’’

He does; he pistons in and out of him roughly, hungry and aching for him. He lets Louis cling to his neck and pull his head down until they’re forehead to forehead, breathing each other’s air.

‘’You’ll never,’’ Louis moans into his open mouth. ‘’You’ll never do that to me again, you hear me?’’ his voice shakes, eyelashes clumping with sweat but eyes blazing when he looks at him. ‘’Next time, you jump with me, you fight with me, you stay with me. You got that?’’

‘’Yes,’’ Harry exhales, too gone for this boy, this human omega who loves him so much, he’d once been flayed by a hunter because he wouldn’t say where Harry was hiding, who’d blown up a bar full of hunters and managed to get them out with a truckload of guns, who took a bullet for him, who…

‘’I’m close…alpha,’’ Louis moans, head thrown back and neck exposed. Harry cannot help it; licks at the expanse of skin and bites down on his mating mark. ‘’Fuck, Haz…’’

‘’I love you,’’ Harry’s lips graze against his neck. His thrusts get faster and deeper, making Louis’ moans ricochet against the walls. ‘’I’ll love you forever, Lou. You’re my soul, baby…baby,’’

Louis comes with a shout and Harry feels his knot forming. He pushes in so deep until his knot expands and locks in. He comes so fucking hard, his eyes whiten out.

They’re definitely not leaving tonight.

…………………………………………………………………………

‘’Babe,’’

He hears his voice but feels him first. He feels his fingers scratching through his head, massaging his scalp. 

He’s still lying on top of Louis and he doesn’t know how long it’s been but it can’t be comfortable so he wraps his arms around Louis’ waist and turns them around until Louis’ on top of him.

They’d gone another round and so his knot is still locked inside Louis. He knows it will be a while before he softens enough to unlock from his body but Louis seems okay with that. He manages to pull the blanket up Louis’ naked body and locks his hands around the small of Louis’ back, near the top of his arse where he flattens one hand and cups a cheek.

‘’You with me?’’

‘’I’m with you,’’ he replies, chin grazing the top of Louis’ head.

‘’Do you remember when you got stabbed?’’ Louis asks, before he continues. ‘’Right when we were leaving town on your motorbike and you kept going anyways until we were so far out of town. ‘’

Harry nods.

‘’And um, we hid in that cave in the woods, right? And I was so tired so I slept, I think or fell asleep, I can’t remember but you told me you’d go search for a wolfsbane plant because your wound was not healing and I was worried but you told me you’d only be down in the woods and…’’

Harry remembers all this. He remembers thinking that he was dripping blood everywhere and that he didn’t want Louis to see and even though he knew how to treat himself, he wasn’t prepared. They’d left in a rush because someone in Louis’ class saw the mating mark on Louis’ neck and had made a call to have him arrested from school.

Louis had managed to call him while he hid in the bathroom though. It was only at the nick of time that he rode in with his motorcycle into the school parking lot and got Louis out of the grip of the hunter police, the worst type of humans. He got stabbed in the thigh despite Louis hitting the hunter’s face with his heavy book bag but it was enough for them to make their escape. He knew the woods by heart and it was his territory so they weren’t easy to find but still…

‘’And then those hunters found me while you were gone and um…’’ Louis pauses when Harry tightens his arms around his upper back, lips mushing with his temple. ‘’You came and ripped their throats out, every single one of them.’’

‘’Lou…’’

‘’You saved me so many times,’’ Louis interrupts. ‘’And you saved so many people and I know how willing you are to die for me but I need you here with me, Haz.’’ Harry closes his eyes because he can’t stand the sight of Louis crying. ‘’I need you to stop thinking that sacrificing yourself for me will do me any good because it won’t. It hurts me when they shoot you, when they torture you, when they make you out to be the monster you’re not.’’ Louis lifts his head and Harry feels his fingers graze his chin. He opens his eyes and sees Louis’ glittery ocean eyes looking at him. ‘’It will be obliterate me if you die for me, or because of me, can you please understand that?’’

‘’It’s just instinct sometimes,’’ Harry tries to explain, tries to make him comprehend. ‘’I don’t…I can’t think when….’’

‘’I know, okay?’’

Of course he does; they share one heart so of course Louis knows what he wants to say, what he can’t put into words.

‘’But we’re stronger together, more fearless together and we’ll make it to the wolf shelter together.’’ Louis says with affirmation. ‘’We’ll build a better world once we get there and we’ll live in it because we deserve to. You and me. Okay?’’

Harry cups the back of his head and bends to reach his lips, to kiss him.

‘’You and me.’’ Harry nods. ‘’Forever.’’

_‘’He is half of my soul, as the poet says,’’_

_Madeline Miller, the Song of Achilles_

**Author's Note:**

> comments and kudos are highly appreciated


End file.
